North Penn looking for improvement

?North Penn teachers and administrators hope they can improve reading test scores for the districts’ high school special education students.

Although it continues to rank well in both county and statewide assessments, North Penn failed last year to meet annual yearly progress, as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, because not enough of its high school special education students scored high enough on standardized reading tests.

The overall targets for last year were to have 63 percent of special education students score proficient or advanced in reading, explained Diane Holben, North Penn’s assistant superintendent. That subgroup of students fell short of the goal with 46.9 percent achieving that benchmark.

Next year, the target rises to 72 percent. However, Holben said, under what’s called the Safe Harbor provision, the district can achieve AYP if it reduces the number of students who were nonproficient by 10 percent.

Last year, 26.5 percent of the district’s special education students scored in the nonproficient category.

The large suburban district, with some 12,690 students, cannot reach AYP if any subgroup, such as special education students, does not meet an ever rising benchmark of improvement.

“We’re a large district, so we have lots of targets to meet,” said Holben.

“These are the rules we play by.”

In an effort to address the issue, the district conducted a screening of approximately 340 ninth- and 10th-graders in both regular and special education in 2009, to determine which students need reading support.

Jenna Rufo, manager of special education, said the data gathered from that testing, along with previous PSSA scores, grades and teacher input, will be used to identify which students need help, and what kind of help, in the fall.

A team of teachers and administrators also plans to attend a reading program this summer that will help them improve how they teach reading in all subjects, said Holben.

“Science reading is very different than reading a novel,” said the assistant superintendent.

“The (program) will look at a set of strategies to see which ones work best. Teachers will learn how to instruct students to pull information from graphs and charts.”

Additionally, North Penn plans to begin co-teaching in classes with a mix of special and regular education students, said Rufo.

The district wants “an equal partnership” between regular and special education teachers, she said.

In co-taught classes, a special education and regular education teacher work as a team to instruct students.

Teachers will also use more of their planning time to target specific areas where children are having difficulty.

Rufo said the district is “revamping” its academic support period to shift away from a focus on classroom topics.

Rather, teachers will spend more of their planning time on “skill deficits” of students.

Both Holben and Rufo said meeting AYP has been a challenge, but one that will make the district better.

“It’s been a great opportunity to examine our programs,” said Rufo.

North Penn ranked third in the county for its percentage of 11th grade special education students scoring in the profecient and advanced range for math and sixth for reading.

At the state level, North Penn ranked 23rd in the math subgroup and 36th in reading, according to PSSA scores.